Tag Archives: Bart Sears

As I’ve noted here, when R&D was concepting a G.I. Joe figure, that character would go through quite a process. A multitude of pencil sketches, input from other members of R&D, line reviews for higher ups, and even a rendered, full-color painting, all before sculpting commenced. As fun as it is to see proposed designs of toys that didn’t make it, it’s also fun to peak behind the curtain on favorites that did. Like ’89 Rock & Roll here. Continue reading →

To comics fans, Bart Sears means Justice League Europe, C.O.P.S., his “Brute and Babe” column for Wizard Magazine, Turok, X-O Manowar, Spider-Woman, and more recently a Legends of the Dark Knight double-sized issue and some Indiana Jones work. Sears was also at Hasbro in the late ’80s. There he briefly worked on G.I. Joe, and designed the company’s C.O.P.S. line. Here’s his presentation painting, seen internally and not part of any package design, for Charbroil. Unfortunately it’s a color photocopy, so it’s much contrastier than the original artwork.

Today’s art post is the complete sculpt input (i.e. “turnaround”) for the 1988 Hydro-Viper. Again for casual or non-fans, let’s start with a photo (by me, not my fancy book photographer) of the production figure for a baseline comparison.

Here’s George Woodbridge’s turnaround. Such a crisp and clean line, and a deft spotting of blacks.

Note that the figure is referred to as “Cobra Frogman,” so “Hydro-Viper” hadn’t yet cleared Legal.

Woodbridge’s association with G.I. Joe is limited. He drew most of the ’88 inputs, and did many of the Hasbro-internal figure presentation paintings that Dave Dorman and Bart Sears didn’t around 1988. Writer Mark Evanier wrote a short biography of Woodbridge in 2004 when the artist passed away. You can find it here, but if you want a shorter version, I’ll just throw out the terms “Mad Magazine” and “military and historical illustration.” In the near future I’ll show a few more pieces like this here, and in the not-near future I’ll have Woodbridge’s Crazylegs (a Joe paratrooper) color piece in my book.

Here are three sheets of the Hydro-Viper’s accessories, drawn by Bart Sears. In toys, Sears is known for designing Hasbro’s C.O.P.S. In comics, Sears drew Justice League Europe and has recently penciled some Conan and Indiana Jones for Dark Horse. Of note here is the ray, the most bizarre of all animals that any G.I. Joe figure came packaged with.